


Paperman

by theonewhereshewrites



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Cute, Disney, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, Meet-Cute, Muggles, Paperman, disney short, jily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 15:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16600241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonewhereshewrites/pseuds/theonewhereshewrites
Summary: James Potter is on his usual morning commute to work when he's suddenly hit by a flying piece of paper. Moments later, he's joined on the train platform by the woman who'd lost the paper, and he's quite sure he's never seen such a beautiful sight.A gust of wind blows one of his financial forms into her face, leaving a prominent lipstick mark on the bottom of the page. Before he can ask for her name, she boards her train and leaves, leaving him with nothing but a piece of paper stained with lipstick.He's certain he's never going to see her again until he spots her in the office across the street from his at work next to an open window. His only hope to gain the woman's attention is to fly a paper airplane across the busy street of traffic and in through her window. The only problem is that he can't manage to get any of the airplanes in through the window. Will he ever gain the mystery woman's attention, or is he fated to miss her forever?Based off of the Disney short, 'Paperman'.





	Paperman

**Author's Note:**

> All character rights belong to JKR, and the plot of this belongs to Disney. 
> 
> If anyone hasn't seen the Disney short Paperman, watch it. It's seriously the cutest thing ever. 
> 
> Also, I highly recommend listening to the music from Paperman while you read this. 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GINNt4UYDhI

He’s standing on the train platform waiting for his usual morning train when it happens. The wind is blowing lightly against his face, and a chilly morning bite is present in the air. He’s wearing his usual dress suit, complete with a black tie and messenger bag. A train zooms by behind him on one side of the platform as he’s waiting for his on the other.

He’s holding a folder of financial forms in his left hand when he’s suddenly hit by a flying piece of paper. Moments later, a young woman runs past him, chasing the paper like a game of tag that she’s losing. He feels his eyes follow her down the platform as she catches up to the loose paper flying in the wind.

Moments later, tucking the flyaway page into the folder in her hands, she joins him on the train platform, with an earnest smile on her face. He sends her a grin, feeling his eyes widen slightly at the sight of her. He’s never quite seen a woman like her. Perhaps it’s the red hair blowing in the wind, or maybe it’s the emerald shade of her eyes that reminds him of the forest. But he can’t quite tear his eyes away from her as she stands beside him on the platform.

He hears another train pulling into the platform behind him, bringing a subsequent gust of wind in with it, and dislodging one of the papers from his folder. It blows into the woman’s face, and her nose scrunches up in surprise at the offending paper. He blushes embarrassedly, plucking the flyaway page from her visage, and she laughs at the sight of a lipstick smudge right at the bottom of his financial statement form. For a moment, he doesn’t think he’s ever heard such a lovely sound. He glances down at the lipstick mark on his paper, before glancing up, only to find her gone. Looking around in a panic, he notices that she’s boarded the train behind him, and he feels his heart sink slightly that he didn’t catch her name. They smile at one another before her train pulls away.

Twenty-five minutes later, he arrives at work, still staring at the lipstick smudge on the bottom of the paper, and thinking of the green-eyed woman. She’s stuck with him somehow, despite the fact that he had only seen her for a matter of minutes, and he didn’t even know her name.

He looks out the window and is surprised to find her in the building across the street, working in an office with an open window. He tries waving his arms to get her attention, but she’s too focussed on the papers in front of her to notice him. It’s too loud to shout across the traffic zooming by below, but there’s something in him that’s intent on getting her to notice him.

Determined to gain her attention, he eyes the stack of papers on his desk, and begins folding them into paper airplanes, and throwing them out the window one by one in an attempt to get her to notice him. One after another each airplane fails, some never making it two feet out the window, and others hitting the side of the building just inches away from their target. Back in his office, his boss is sending him varying degrees of disparaging looks as he hurls airplanes out the window in a panic, the pile dwindling rapidly.

In desperation, having used all of the paper on his desk to no success, he uses the lipstick-marked paper, only to frown in disappointment when the wind carries the paper down towards the street below him. Across the street, the woman leaves the office, and he feels his heart sink at the prospect of losing the woman once more. In a split decision, he leaps from his desk and he dashes from his office in a panic to catch her before she disappears.

Rushing across a busy street of traffic, nearly getting hit in the process, he fails to see which direction she went, and finds only the final airplane marked with lipstick, sitting on the pavement beneath his feet. Angered and frustrated, he picks up the offending page and throws it hard, soaring into the sky above the buildings.

Unbeknownst to him, it travels two streets over and lands in an alleyway, joining many of the other paper airplanes that he had thrown. They all clutter the street, laying in sadness in the dark alley. Moments go by, and then, as if by magic, they begin to stir and fly from the ground. Travelling as if they are alive, the airplanes make their way a few streets over, and hit him like a gust of wind. Looking down at his body, he’s covered in airplanes, and he’s not sure he’s ever been in such a strange situation in his life.

Moving as if they have a mind of their own, a cloud of airplanes force him toward a nearby train station and onto a train, much to his confusion. Meanwhile, several blocks away, the lipstick-marked paper finds a red-haired woman at a flower stand and lands directly in front of her hand.

Recognizing the lipstick-marked paper, she chases the airplane to another train station and aboard another train. She doesn’t really know why she’s following it. It is just a paper after all. But something about the man from the train platform that morning stuck with her, and she wants to know where the airplane is taking her. She’s hoping it’s to him.

As the two trains converge at a station several stops later, the two are finally brought together; him still covered in paper airplanes and her holding his lipstick-marked paper airplane. Her eyes widen at the sight of him, amazed that they managed to find one another again. They step off of the trains at the same time and towards one another, both wearing equally relieved grins as they stare at each other.

His black hair is ten times messier than it was when she saw him that morning, sticking up in ever which direction, and his hazel eyes are glowing in the sun from beneath his round spectacles. He’s no longer holding a folder of papers, but his messenger bag is still slung over his right shoulder. She’s certain she’s never seen a more wonderful sight.

“I’m James,” he finally says, shaking the remaining airplanes off of his body and sticking his hand in her direction. She takes his hand in hers and smiles at the lipstick-marked paper airplane that remains in her left hand.

“I’m Lily,” she introduces herself, and she’s certain that if magic was real, the feeling between them must have been it.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if there are any errors in this and comments & kudos are always appreciated. If anyone wants to come scream at me on tumblr, then feel free. 
> 
> @habitatforhufflepuffs


End file.
